Rise
by A.K.Rants
Summary: I was born in the slums of the capital of Fire Country, Konoha. My mother worked in a place called K-bar where "pretty ladies danced for money"... Honestly, it was a typical story for us slum kids. Most kids here were sons or daughters of whores, other kids that had a drunk for a father like Sakura, and then the rest were orphans like Naruto. *DISCLAIMER: Cover art is not mine*
1. Chapter 1

**Prelude of Kings**

* * *

I was born in the slums of the capital of Fire Country, Konoha. My mother worked in a place called K-bar where "pretty ladies danced for money" and according to my mother my father was some "good-for-nothing nobel" that broke her heart and left her with me.

Honestly, it was a typical story for us slum kids. Most kids here were sons or daughters of whores, other kids had a drunk for a father like Sakura, and then the rest were orphans like Naruto.

I met Sakura when I had accompanied my mom to K-bar. Sakura had also accompanied her mom to K-bar and since we were both girls around the same age we hit it off pretty easily. Sakura was a good kid with terrible luck. She had a whore for a mom and an abusive, drunk of a father. It was surprising that her parents were together, but according to Sakura "When they saw that I had my dad's pink hair and my mom's jade eyes they said that it was fate and got married despite how fucked up the situation was." That being said, Sakura was without a doubt the smartest kid in the slums and had the best chance making it out and doing something with her life.

Naruto on the other hand is infamous in the slums, in fact people know him as the "Golden Fox". He has bright blonde hair, brighter blue eyes, and three scars on each side of his face that gave him the appearance of whiskers. Now you would think that his hair and scars is what gave him the name and you would be partially right, but it was his ability to scam any bit of money from anyone that gave him that name. Naruto could charm an unexpecting inner-city folk or unsuspecting slum dweller into playing a game of poker with him and by the end of the game somehow Naruto would end up with all of the poor suckers money. Unsurprisingly that's how we met. He had conned my mom out of some money, I went to kick his ass and get it back and the rest is history.

Speaking of my mother, my mother is a beautiful women with dark blue hair and blue eyes and a heart kinder than anyone could be. In fact, despite being left pregnant with me and despite the fact that I have my father's green eyes she named me "Mana" to remind me that I'm loved and have all of her affection. But it wasn't even the fact that she loved me despite the situation behind my birth that made her kind, no it was the fact that she opened the door to her home to Sakura when she found out what a hell hole her house was and how she became a mother to Naruto and created a home for him because he had none. That's what made her kind.

But anyways, what I'm trying to say is. We started as the very scum of the Earth and now, well, lets just say that we've become much more.


	2. Chapter 2

**The First Step**

* * *

"Kura."

...

"Kura come on."

...

"Sakura, I said I'm sorry."

"Said pink haired girl turned around only to give a quick glare and continue storming down the street. Naruto sighed. To his left Mana simply gave him a look that said "you fucked up." To which Naruto gave a glare that screamed "I know!"

Mana sighed as she ran a hand through her long bangs. "Come on Sakura, you know Naruto didn't mean to."

Sakura finally turned around, revealing a red face and eyes that were on a verge of tears.

Naruto felt a pat on his shoulder and looked over to see Mana clearly giving him the "You're on your own" look.

Naruto wanted to sigh. "Sakura. Look, I'm really sorry that I got us kicked out of the library."

"For life." Sakura added, clearly still angry

"For life," Naruto continued. "But you saw the way that damn 'brarian was looking at us! That fuckin' old man! You heard 'em, called us uneducated slum rats! Told us to go back where we belong! Fuck's his problem?! If he thinks we're uneducated he should let us look at the damn books and get educated!"

Sakura frowned.

"Honestly Sakura I would have punched him in the face if Naruto hadn't," Mana admitted as she too frowned at the memory.

Sakura sighed, "Yeah you're right I would have kicked him in his wrinkly-saggy balls, but now what are we going to do?! The entrance exams into Konoha Shinobi Academy are in less than a week and we just lost our place to study!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Come on Kura, you know we all can kick any of those fuckin' clan kids asses. None of them ever been in a real brawl or have to run for the life before."

Sakura frowned, "Yeah! But in order to pass your need to know what each hand-seal is, and you need to know three jutsus; Bunshin no Jutsu, Henge no Jutsu, and Kawarimi no Jutsu! How are gonna pass that portion now?! Huh?!"

Naruto gave an awkward chuckle and began rubbing the back of his head. "We, um. Maybe we can ask a shinobi to teach us?"

Sakura glared.

"Eh-hem."

The two bickering kids looked towards their blue haired companion the was now holding 4 scrolls.

"Are those?" Sakura began.

Naruto grinned widely, causing his canines to appear.

Mana smirked. "We'll you are suppose to be able to borrow scrolls from the library."

Naruto threw his arms around Mana shoulders. "Haha! Cat Burglar Mana strikes again!"

Said girl rolled her bright green eyes at the nickname as she threw the scroll containing each hand-seal to Sakura who caught it still very dazed.

"All right you uneducated slum rats! Time to get educated!"

Sakura and Naruto cheered.

"We're off Umi-kaa-san!" Naruto and Sakura yelled as they dashed through the door.

Umi giggled prettily as she watched them go. Soon enough another pair of footsteps followed as they too hurried to the door. In a quick turn, Umi watch with pride as she was greeted by a pair of familiar green eyes that shined with excitement.

"See-ya later Kaa-san!"

Umi moved her hand from supporting her chin as she waved from the dining room table and watched the door slam to a close. She smiled bright before lacing her fingers together and closing her eyes.

"Kami-sama I don't ever ask more much, but please, please let them pass. Please let them become so much more.

Naruto growled for the 5th time since they had arrived at The Academy. Beside him, Sakura shot him a look.

"Naruto stop it," the pink haired girl hissed. "I swear if you get us kicked out-"

"I'll/em rip your balls out and feed them to that devil dog in front of No-hair Hisao's shop," Mana finished. She was not getting kicked out.

Naruto paled. "I won't! Geez, I'm just so tired of these looks and the condescending questions. 'Uh, are you guys lost? Uh, do you guys have your IDs? Uh, do you know that this is for the entrance exam and not a food handout day? Uh, Uh, How about I shove my foot up you ass you piece of-?"

"Naruto shut up!" Sakura hissed as she smacked him behind the head.

"What was that-"

Naruto immediately closed his mouth as he realized that they had finally made it to the registering booth.

There were two men at the booth. One looked bored out of his mind and had grey hair that went skyward and wore his hiate over one eye and a mask that covered the lower portion of his face. The other was brimming with energy, too much energy if you asked Mana and looked pretty ridiculous in green spandex, with a bowl cut and the thickest eyebrows you ever did see.

"HELLO YOUTHFUL EXAMANEES!"

The spandex wearing man shot up, threw his foot on the table, gave the three a thumbs up and grinned.

"Ignore him, he must be drunk," Sakura decided as she walked to the uninterested mask wearing man.

"He's not," the man noted boredly.

"Are you sure?" Naruto piped in as he watched the spandex man strike in exaggerated pose and scream "OH! MY! KAMI!"

"Very sure, IDs?"

Mana handed hers first, followed by Sakura, and then Naruto. The man scanned the three IDs, gave a barely audible "hmmm" and filled something out on the clipboard before handing the three a pass.

"Go through that door there" He pointed to some red door. "You'll be given a paper to test your knowledge on seals and when you're done just hand it to the proctor at the front and he'll point you to the next line. Once you go through that line you'll go in a room with 3 shinobi where you'll show off your ability to do the three required jutsu and they'll judge you and let you know your score. Each portion of the exam is 5 points. 5 points for seals, and 5 for each jutsu. You need at least a total of 15 to pass. Got it?"

The three slum dwellers nodded.

"Alright, good luck I guess."

"MAY THE FORCE OF YOUTH BE WITH YOU!"

Mana and Naruto just stared at the strange shinobi.

"Thanks?" Sakura replied as she started inching for the door.

"Ignore him," the bored shinobi advised, causing each of them to nod and simply head behind them to the door.

Naruto was the first to get his hands on the door and grinned, "All right let's do this!"

Mana and Naruto walked out grinning as they made their way over to a waiting Sakura.

"So, how's you guys do? Sakura questioned.

She had finished first as a result of completely breezing past the written portion and was currently sitting on a tire swing they had out front for whatever reason.

Naruto grinned as he gave a peace sign "15 points baby!"

"17" Sakura replied sticking her tongue out.

The two turned to look at Mana who gave a sigh.

"I only got 20."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and Naruto gave the girl a playful punch in the arm. "Shut up 'Ms. Only 20' fuckin' kill yourself with that."

Mana stuck her tongue out and grinned widely.

"We did it."

Sakura and Naruto slapped their hands together in high five. "We did it!"

From a tree not to far from the three, two figures stood.

"Looks like they did it."

"Quite youthful aren't they."

The other man sighed as he looked down as his clipboard. _"Haruno Sakura, Yukino Mana, Uzumaki Naruto it will be interesting to see where you go."_


End file.
